The First Year Troubles
by AshLou123
Summary: A Harry Potter new generation, I don't own Harry Potter. I have made up charactors
1. Owls and Fires

Victoria Potter woke up with a soft pillow in her face.

"What?" She asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she could just make out the outline of a small girl sitting on the bed opposite.

"Don't you know what day it is?" The girl asked, excited about something.

"No, why?" Vicky asked, genuinely clueless.

"August the 30th!" The little girl jumped up and down on her bed.

"Oh, of course! Sorry, Lily, I completely forgot!" With that Vicky bounced off her bed and went over to her sister's bed. She sat down and tried to calm down the excited 11-year-old.

"It might be a bit frightening at first, but after a while you will get used to it, and I will always be there for you." She said after she had got Lily settled down.

"I know, but I'll be OK. Don't worry, Vicky, I will be fine! It is just a new school, not a new life." Lily told her sister, sounding very grown up.

"Vicky, Lily, James! Breakfast is ready!" A woman's voice called from downstairs. The two girls got up off the bed and walked through the house, down to the kitchen. As soon as they entered the kitchen, a black haired boy rushed past them and sat down in an empty chair around the large table. A very tiered woman with flaming red hair and a 1-year-old baby on her hip came into sight holding a plate full of pancakes.

"There you are!" She said, putting the plate on the table and fastening the baby into his high-chair, "I was starting to get worried! Vicky can you feed Liam for me and Chloe, don't do that!" The woman was now addressing a black haired teenager, the spitting image of the boy who had just come into the room. Both girls nodded and obeyed there mother. Vicky took the chair next to the high-chair and started feeding the little boy occupying it, while Lily took the remaining chair next to a ginger haired boy, who was reading a very thick book. Breakfast in the Potter house was always fun, fighting over the food and getting in each others way, but as September the first was only days away, there was a defiant feeling of excitement. All of the Potter children would be heading back to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry and everyone was looking forward to it. Just then the back door opened and a man with very untidy black hair and emerald green eyes came through it.

"Hi, Dad!" The children at the table said together.

"Hello, darlings!" Harry Potter hugged all six of his children then hugged his wife.

"Your home early." Ginny said, stirring the contents of a pan.

"Yeah, well, they let me leave a little early." Harry said, "Oh, by the way Vicky, I have got you that interview with the Aurer office. It is on Friday."

"Thanks dad, that's great. Did you get Lauren one too?" Vicky asked, halfway through an aeroplane full of pancake. Harry nodded and Vicky stood up so quickly she knocked her chair over. She thrust the spoon into Chloe's hands and rushed out of the room, muttering something about mailing Lauren.

It was august the 31st and the children were really excited. In about 24 hours they would be seeing the massive castle again and settling down for the start of term feast. Ginny was busy in the kitchen, her wand commanding potato to peel and eggs to boil, while Harry and the children were in the living room, entertaining their guests.

"How's your mum and dad then, Hormone?" Harry asked the bushy haired woman next to him.

"Oh, yeah they're fine! We went to see them for Rosie's birthday. They have really taken to Ron." Hormone indicated to the ginger haired man on the floor, watching a very interesting game of wizard chess between Rosie and Al bus.

"Really?" Harry sounded shocked.

"Really." Ron said looking up at the two people on the sofa. "I don't know why though, I bet I was really weird."

"No you weren't!" Hormone reassured her husband. Ron opened his mouth to retaliate but just then Ginny's voice echoed from the kitchen, announcing that dinner was ready. Once everyone was seated around the table (witch was a bit of a squeeze with the 4 guests) Ginny came around the corner carrying a large plate of chicken drumsticks, sausages and chicken joints and a smaller plate of salad. She put the salad in front of Vicky and the meat in the middle of the table. She went back into the kitchen and came back with a jug of pumpkin juice.

"Um, six, this looks great!" Ron complemented, licking his lips and tucking in to his dinner. Hormone rolled her eyes at Ginny but tucked in just the same. Dinner was a very pleasant experience. Halfway through the second course, a tawny owl entered the room through the open window. It landed next to Vicky who untied the scroll of parchment from the owls' leg and opened it. The owl took off back through the window as Vicky started reading the letter. After she had read it through Vicky let out a small gasp and started reading aloud.

_Dear Miss Victoria Potter,_

_I am very pleased to announce that, as you have had a spectacular quid ditch career here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you have been awarded captaincy of the Quidditch team, next term. You will find enclosed your badge. Good luck!_

_Professor M McGonagall _

_Headmistress_

Vicky stopped reading and looked up at her family. Suddenly the whole room was filled with applause and 10 "well done"s. 10 hands were coming down on Vicky's back and Liam was clapping and laughing hysterically. Vicky was already part of the Gryffindor Quidditch team (seeker) but being caption was something totality different. Felicity Spinet, the last caption, had just left last term and Vicky had forgotten that there was a vacancy.

After what seemed like hours of parting, Vicky made the excuse that she was tiered and went up stairs to her bedroom. She sat on her bed and looked at her Quidditch caption badge. She was just about to put it on her bedside table with her Prefect badge and family photos, witch were waving and winking at her from their frames, when Lily came in.

"I knew you weren't tiered." She said, closing the door and going over to her open trunk. She collected any stray robes or books and stowed them into the trunk before forcefully closing the lid and sitting on it.

"What's the matter?" Lily asked her sister, her face full of concern. Vicky wondered weather she should tell her sister or not. After all, it was very petty and what was Lily going to do? She finally made up her mind to say what was bothering her.

"What if I'm rubbish? I don't know anything about leadership or bossing people around!" Vicky said, looking at the girl opposite.

"You are kidding! You are so good at Quidditch and you boss me around all the time!" Lily blurted out, staring at Vicky as if she had said something insulting.

"Your right. How could I be so stupid?" Vicky asked, going over to her trunk and checking everything was inside. She shut it with a click and went to sit next to Lily, who was now sitting on her bed.

They hugged tightly and then Vicky said, "Tomorrow! Get a good night sleep and you will be great for tomorrow morning!" She hugged her sister again and tucked her into bed then crossed the room and got into her own bed. She turned onto her side and looked into the smiling faces of her relatives, in the pictures. Please let everything be OK Vicky thought before she fell asleep.

Vicky was awake way before Lily. She looked at the clock on her bedside table. 5:30. Way too early. She tried to get back to sleep but half an hour later she realised it was no good. Vicky got up and packed the last of her things in her school bag and carried her bag and trunk downstairs. She was just finishing her cereal when Albus walked through the door. He sat down next to his sister and stared down at the floor, his hands clasped in his lap. Vicky put an arm around Albus and hugged him tightly.

"Nervous?" She asked, not withdrawing her arm. Albus nodded, still staring at the floor.

"Don't be! Your going to be fine! You get to go to Hogsmeade this year. Remember that." Vicky told the little boy next to her. Albus nodded again, mumbled something about getting his trunk down and rushed out of the room. Vicky shook her head and went back into the kitchen to dump her empty cereal bowl. Suddenly, there was a massive scream that echoed through the otherwise silent house. Vicky rushed upstairs to see what was wrong. She stopped, with the rest of her family, at a door on the second floor. Chloe ran out of the room, covered in black soot. She was gasping for air. Ginny was the first one to be brave enough to go into the room. She let out a high-pitches scream and came running out, dragging a black haired boy with her. James.

"What did you think you were doing!" Ginny yelled at the coughing boy in front of her. Vicky had never seen her mum this angry before. She could also see little streaks of black in Ginny's red hair. James mumbled what sounded like a sorry and accepted the full glass of water that his dad was putting under his nose. As they were going downstairs for breakfast, Vicky thought that this was one way to end the summer holidays.


	2. The Hogwarts Express

The Potter and Weasley family's got to Kings Cross station at 10:45. 15 minutes early. They got to the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, the gateway to platform 9 ¾, and got into pairs. Vicky and Albus were first. They gripped their trolley handles and ran as fast as they could at the solid-looking barrier. Instead of hitting solid concrete, however, they past freely through the barrier and onto the platform were a scarlet steam train was puffing smoke and whistling. As soon as they moved out into the crowd, James and Chloe came through the barrier. Closely followed by Lily and Harry, Ginny and Liam, Hermione and Rosie and Ron and Hugo. The two family's, 6 trunks, 2 owls, 1 cat, 1 rat and a toad, moved towards the train, which was now filling rapidly.

"There's Lauren!" Vicky said, pointing out a girl with shoulder length blond hair who was standing next to the train with her brother. She saw Vicky and waved, and Vicky went sprinting over to meet her friend. Harry and Ron helped the kids get there things onto the train while Hermione and Ginny said goodbye. When she got to Lily, Ginny broke down in tears. She hugged her youngest daughter tightly and kissed her about 10 times before she let her go. Vicky came back with Lauren and her brother and was herding the rest of the kids into the carriage before her mother could do any more. The two women closed the door reluctantly on their children, muttering goodbyes and last minute reminders. When the train started moving, Ginny sobbed even louder and Harry put his arm around her. He waved after the train and when it rounded the corner he saluted it, cradling his now hysterical wife.

In the train, Vicky turned towards Lily, Albus and Rosie(Chloe and James had gone off to find friends).

"Come on then, we need to find a compartment." And with that Vicky linked arms with Lauren and they started walking down the full corridor, their brothers and sisters in tow. They finally found an empty compartment, put their trunks into the luggage rack and collapsed into the seats below. Luke pulled out an old chess board and him and Albums settled down to a violent game of Wizard Chess. Lily just stared out of the window, awe struck. Vicky and Lauren were having a very deep discussion of their summer holidays and no one realised that it was 1 in the afternoon until the lunch trolley stopped outside their compartment. Vicky bought enough Pumpkin Pasties, Chocolate Frogs and Pumpkin Juice for everyone and they all enjoyed a large lunch. It was mid-afternoon before the lanterns came on inside the compartment and Luke had successfully won 3 games of Wizard Chess. Lily had finally pulled her eyes away from the amazing view and was now flicking through one of her new school books. Vicky was writing a letter to her mum and Lauren was trying to tune into the Wizarding Wireless Network.

At 7 o'clock the train started to slow down and the 5 people in the compartment stood up and got their possessions together. Everyone filed out of the compartment and made their way towards the door. When the train stopped, Vicky opened the door and people started streaming out into the dark night. When Lily came out, Vicky gave her a big hug and pointed towards a large figure who was calling, "Firs' years, this way please!" Lily nodded and ran over to Hagrid. When the last of the children were out of the train, Vicky and her family went off to find a carriage. There was only one left so Vicky, Albus, Luke and Lauren squeezed into it and the horse less carriage started towards the castle. Albus started looking out of the tiny window and Luke was searching through his bag to see if everything was there. Vicky and Lauren started another conversation about the upcoming Quidditch season.

"Its so exciting, you as captain!" Lauren squealed, obviously excited.

"I know! I'm so scared tough. I'm holding trials this year, want to try out?" Vicky asked with the same enthusiasm. But Lauren shook her head.

"No way! You know how rubbish I am at Quidditch, I'd be the worst on the team!"

"No you wouldn't be, but I can't force you. You have to come to all the practices, though?"

"You try and stop me!" Lauren hugged her best friend just as the carriage was entering the school grounds.


	3. The Sorting

The carriage stopped at the foot of the stone steps that lead to the Entrance Hall. The foursome walked up the steps and through the oak doors that marked the entrance of the school. They stepped into the light and airy Entrance Hall and went through another set of doors that lead to the nearly full Great Hall. All four of them walked down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, looking for a spare seat. They finally found a seat and settled down just in time to see 35 or so nervous looking first years line up in front of the staff table. Vicky saw a red haired head turn towards the Gryffindor table and give a shaky smile. She replied with a reassuring thumbs up and a wide smile and Lily gave a firm nod and turned to face Professor McGonagall, who was now placing a very old and tiered looking hat on a three-legged stool at the front of the hall. It opened a mouth like rip at its base and said:

_I am here to say,_

_Which house you will be in today,_

_Will you be in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor,_

_Or Slytherin or Ravenclaw,_

_I am here to decide,_

_There's nothing in your mind you can hide,_

_If you are a Hufflepuff,_

_You are loyal even when it's tough,_

_If you are a Gryffindor,_

_You have a very brave core,_

_If you are a Slytherin,_

_You will achieve outside of the tin,_

_And if you are a Ravenclaw,_

_You are clever and know the law,_

_So put me on your head,_

_And to me your mind is bigger than a shed._

Vicky and Lauren looked at each other and grinned. The sorting was always fun. Professor McGonagall was now calling out names and, one by one, the small children at the front stepped forwards and placed the sorting hat on their head. In 5 minutes Georgia Hall, Ryan Mellow, Danny Miller, Jason Norman and Holly Piper had become part of Gryffindor house.

"Potter, Lily!" Professor McGonagall read out and the small red haired girl stepped out of the line and put the hat on her head. It was very quick and easy:

_"Gryffindor!"_

The Gryffindor table erupted with noise and Lily ran off to sit with her brother and sister. Vicky gave her sister a big hug and Albus cheered as he slapped her on the back.

When the sorting had finished, the golden plates on the 4 tables filled themselves with chicken, beef, steaks, vegetables and a whole array of puddings. Lily gaped at the food for a second then, realising what everyone was else was doing, started picking up bits of meat and potato and piling it all onto the plate in front of her.

After everyone was fed and watered and the last of the desserts had faded from their plates, Professor McGonagall stood up in the middle of the staff table and waited for silence before she started talking.

"Welcome to Hogwarts! Now that we have had our wonderful feast we have to get the notices out of the way as well. First, the dark forest is forbidden to all students and you will be punished most severely if you decide to wonder out of bounds. Next, as I must remind you, all Weasley Wizarding Wheeze products are banned throughout the school and no magic should be preformed in the corridors. Finally, only students in third year or above are aloud in to the village of Hogsmeade and then they must show permission from a parent or guardian, no permission no entering the village. Now, everything's out of the way and you all have lessons tomorrow so goodnight and good luck for the year!" Professor McGonagall stopped speaking but didn't sit down until everyone was on their feet, filling through the doors and back into the Entrance Hall. Vicky hugged Lauren and said she would see her later, then Vicky, Lily and Albus pushed their way through the doors and to the foot of the marble staircase, were they could see Chloe and James, waiting.

"Well done, Lils!" Chloe congratulated her sister by throwing her arms around her and hugging her tightly.

"Yeah, congratulations. Mums going to be thrilled." James copied his twin and hugged his youngest sister. Once they had finished this, the five of them trooped up the staircase with a trickle of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw's. When they had got to the second floor Chloe turned to Vicky, "Do you know the password?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, course. Its 'party'." Vicky answered as they went up yet another staircase.

"Ah, that's easy to remember!" Chloe said, relieved that she didn't have to remember an obscure password to get into the Gryffindor common room.

The family reached the seventh floor without any disruption except from Peeves the Poltergeist appearing out of nowhere on the forth floor. They were all relieved to reach the portrait of the Fat Lady who guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

"Password?" She asked, happily.

"Party." Vicky said, confidently.

"Welcome back." The Fat Lady's portrait swung open to reveal a cosy looking room. Lily stared, open mouthed, at the room before she plucked up the courage to enter. As soon as she had stepped through the portrait hole, the painting had swung back and Lily could no longer see the corridor beyond. Vicky tugged at her sister's sleeve and brought her back down to earth. Lily spun around to face her family and the half full common room. She hugged her two brothers and sister , wished them goodnight and followed Vicky through a door that lead to the girl's dormitories. Vicky pushed a door open on the right and Lily saw a small plaque on the door saying 'First years'. Vicky hugged her again, kissed her on the forehead and wished her goodnight. She then gave her sister a small push into the dormitory and closed the door. Lily looked around the room and saw 3 other girls unpacking their things. The nearest girl turned around and at the site of Lily, stretched out her hand.

"Hello. My name is Georgia. You must be Lily. Nice to meet you!" She grasped Lily's hand and shook it.

"You can have the bed next to me if you want." She pointed to the bed by the window.

"That would be great. Thanks!" Lily gushed. She couldn't believe how easy it was to make friends. Georgia seemed nice and she had only just entered the room!

Lily had just finished unpacking when one of the other girls came up to her.

"Sorry for not speaking earlier I'm just really nervous." The girl said in a very quiet voice.

"Its OK. I felt the same when I first got here. It faded once I had been put in Gryffindor though. My whole family's here, you see." Lily smiled at the girl.

"I haven't got anyone here but will you help me make some friends? My name's Clara, by the way. Clara Rain."

"Of course I will and my name is Lily Potter." She stretched out her hand and Clara shook it, smiling.

"Thank you so much, Lily!"

"It's OK. I think we should get some sleep." Lily said, suddenly.

"Yeah. We've got an early day tomorrow." Clara said, going over to her bed and changing into her pyjamas. Lily looked over to the bed in the corner. The scarlet curtains were drawn around it and Lily knew that the other girl, Holly, wasn't going to be as friendly as the others.

When she was dressed in her nightdress, Lily pulled the curtains, around her bed, closed and snuggled down under the thick, red duvet. She fell asleep almost instantly and didn't wake up until the following morning.


	4. An Eventful First Day

Lily woke up at 6 o'clock the next morning and couldn't get back to sleep. She got up, dressed and then went down the spiral staircase and out of the portrait hole, heading down for an early breakfast. She was so excited about the day ahead she didn't see were she was walking and went straight into a suit of armour, which crashed to the floor with a loud bang. She picked the metal up and tried to put it back together but failed. She gave up after five minutes and set off for the Great Hall.

After many wrong turnings, and even going straight through a stair on a staircase, Lily got to the Great Hall, which was quite full by this time, and went over to were Chloe, Vicky, Lauren, Luke and Albus were sitting. She sat down next to Vicky and started gulping down Pumpkin Juice and biting through four slices of buttered toast.

"I was going to walk down with you, but when I went to your dormitory, Georgia said you had already left." Vicky laughed as her sister stared at the massive pile of pancakes. Suddenly a hooting sound filled the air.

"Yes mails here!" Albus said staring at the enchanted ceiling, which was a light blue. Owls started soaring down to their owners with bundles attached to their legs. A tawny owl came fluttering down to the Gryffindor table and landed on Vicky's shoulder. It had a large envelope attached to its leg.

"Hi, Loop." Vicky said to the owl before untying the envelope. Loop the owl jumped down onto the table, drank a bit of the Pumpkin Juice in Lily's goblet and then took off again, heading back home. Vicky opened the envelope in her hand and found 5 smaller envelopes inside. She took them out and handed them out to her family, James had joined them. All of them opened their letters and read them. When they had all finished, they swapped information but then had to stop talking because Professor McGonagall had come up the table to them, to give them their timetables. Chloe, James, Albus, Luke and Lily got theirs straight away and went straight to their first lesson, but because Lauren and Vicky were in sixth year, Professor McGonagall had to check what lessons they could do. Thankfully, both of them had passed all of their O.W.L's with all the right marks so they could do all of the subjects they needed.

_Ring Ring_

The bell sounded for first lesson so both girls ran off to History of Magic.

Lily entered the classroom and sat next to Georgia and Clara. She could see Holly, sitting on her own, at a desk by the window and felt a feeling of pity wash over her. Lily wondered why Holly didn't have any friends but couldn't think about it for long because Professor Flitwick had started speaking. Lily could hardly see the charms teacher, even though he was standing on a very unstable looking mountain of books, but she could here him clearly.

"Good morning everyone!" Professor Flitwick started, "Welcome to Hogwarts and the subject of Charms. Today we are going to learn how to make objects fly. We are going to be practising the wand movement. You do this," He took out his wand and did a swift movement with it, "together with the incantation: Wingardiam Leviosa to make an object fly upwards." He demonstrated the movement and incantation together and made Georgia's book fly up to the ceiling and then fall back onto the desk. Everyone was stunned. Professor Flitwick set them all the task of making a pencil fly and they were off, everyone trying their hardest to move their pencil. After 5 minutes no one had succeeded in making their pencil fly but Lily, Georgia and Clara had all made theirs twitch and roll away from them. Lily looked at the room mate she hadn't talked to. Holly, her face screwed up with concentration, was staring at her pencil as if sheer will would move it. Lily found that she was wondering, yet again, why the girl seemed so lonely and friendless but her thoughts were disrupted, yet again, by Professor Flitwick, who was now moving ,from desk to desk, observing everyone's attempts. Georgia had another go and this time made the pencil fly up about an inch, hover for a second and then fall back down on top of her book. She looked at Professor Flitwick and he clapped loudly.

"Oh yes! Miss Hall has made her pencil fly. Oh I cant believe it!" He squeaked with obvious excitement.

Georgia blushed with pleasure and didn't speak until the bell went for the end of the lesson.

The three friends stood in a corner of the courtyard, underneath a tree. They started talking about the lesson before and the lessons further in the day. The Gryffindor's had Transfiguration, Herbolagy and double Potions that day and the girls couldn't wait for Herbolagy. Georgia and Clara agreed with Lily that it would be fun. Lily also told her friends her worries about Holly. Georgia seemed to think she wasn't worth worrying about but Clara sympathised.

"I totally understand. She's probably just nervous, like I was." Clara said.

"Yeah, I was thinking that. But wouldn't she just ask for some help, like you? We're her room mates. We should help." Lily said, firmly, as the bell for second lesson rang.

Once everyone was sat down, Professor McGonagall started her speech. She welcomed them all to Transfiguration and told them a few rules. She also told them what they would be learning and set them off with a task straight away. They had to transfigure a pencil into a pen. Lily found this quite easy and had succeeded in turning the pencil into a pen in 7 minutes. She noticed that Clara was struggling a bit, so she gave her a little help and looked around the classroom. As this class was just Gryffindors, it was a lot smaller than the charms class. She could see Holly, alone, at the end of the middle row. She seemed to be having a lot of difficulty with this task.

"Yes!" Lily turned around to see Clara's pencil turn into a pen and back again.

"Well done! I knew you could do it!" Lily congratulated her friend. Professor McGonagall came by and congratulated Clara as well. From the corner of her eye, Lily could see jealousy grow on Holly's face, but she didn't say anything; she wasn't going to ruin this moment for Clara.

5 minutes before the end of the lesson, Professor McGonagall called for silence and explained their homework. They had to read chapters 1and 2 of Transfiguration for Beginners and practice turning a pencil into a pen.

"Potter, can I have a word please?" Professor McGonagall asked as the bell rang for third lesson and everyone collected their stuff and rushed outside for Herbolagy.

"Could you tell your sister that I need a date for the Quidditch trials?"

"Yeah, sure." Lily said and rushed out of the classroom to find Clara and Georgia, waiting for her.

"Did you see Holly's face when McGonagall was praising you?" Lily turned to her friends as they walked through the vegetable patch. When both of them looked confused, Lily carried on.

"She looked really jealous. Nearly everyone in the class could do it, except her." Lily ended abruptly.

"Its probably just practice she needs." Clara said, as they entered the greenhouse.

"Yeah, that's probably it. You worry too much Lily." Georgia put in, as they crowded around a table in the middle of the room.

"Hello everyone and welcome to Herbolagy. Today we are going to be feeding and re-potting Hardep plants. It is important that you wear your dragon hide gloves all the time during this task. You must work in groups of four and work safely. If you need any help just ask. Off you go!" Professor Longbottom said, setting everyone off with a difficult task. A Ravenclaw boy came over to their desk.

"Hi, I'm Tom. Can I work with you please?" The boy asked politely.

"Of course you can." Georgia said and pushed a plant pot towards him.

They worked for 5 minutes in silence but then something happened. Lily screamed because she had just found the mouth of the plant and it was now sucking on her finger.

"Don't worry. It is perfectly natural. Just give him some food and he'll let go." Professor Sprout instructed. It took Lily, Georgia, Clara and Tom to loosen the plants grip and when they had succeeded, there was tiny teeth marks on Lily's glove were the plant had bitten into it.

The rest of the lesson passed without any other distraction. Lily and her friends had a lot of fun feeding and re-potting the Hardep plants. When they heard the bell ring from the castle, they collect their things and walked up to the castle, for lunch, together. Once they had got to the Great Hall, Tom said goodbye to the girls and went over to the Ravenclaw table. The three friends went over to the Gryffindor table, were Vicky was waving to her sister.

"How has your morning been?" She asked as Lily, Georgia and Clara sat down and started piling their plates with sandwiches.

"Great!" Lily told her sister, "Herbolagy was so cool! We got homework from McGonagall, though. Oh, yeah, she wanted me to tell you that she needs the Quidditch trial date." She finished and took a big bit of a jam sandwich.

"Oh, right. I'll go and see her tonight. What do you have next?"

"Double Potions. I can't wait!"

"Slughorns quite nice. You do really cool stuff." Vicky told her, taking a gulp of Pumpkin Juice.

"Cool!" Lily said, excited. They ate their large lunch as quickly as they could. When they had finished, Georgia spoke,

"Vicky?"

"Yes?" The older girl asked.

"Do you have to be good at potions to get job?"

"Well," Vicky started, "it depends on what job you want to do. If you want to be an Auror or anything to do with medicine then, yes, I suppose you do. But if you just want to be part of the Ministry or have a normal job like that, then it shouldn't matter." Vicky finished.

"OK." Was all Georgia said for the rest of lunch.

The Gryffindors and Slytherins were all lined up outside the dungeon classroom were their Potions class was. The door opened and a large, old looking man walked out and invited everyone in. Once everyone was sat down, Professor Slughorn introduced himself and his subject. He told them what they would be learning that day and showed them how to set up their cauldrons. He then told them to make a colour change solution and set them off quickly. Lily and Clara set off straight away, cutting up rats' tails and squeezing newts' eyes, but Georgia just stood there, frozen.

"What's the matter, Georgia?" Lily asked, noticing that her friend wasn't doing anything. Georgia hesitated for a moment then,

"I don't know what to do." She whispered, looking down at her feet.

"Its OK. I'll help you." Lily walked around the table and talked Georgia through the task.

After 10 minutes, all three of them had completed their solutions and had tested them on themselves. Lily had a yellow eye, Clara had indigo hair and Georgia had light blue lips. They started laughed loudly when they saw themselves and couldn't stop until Professor Slughorn came over to see what the fuss was about.

In the second half of the lesson they were expected to make a growth potion. Georgia felt a lot more confidant about this one and finished before Lily and Clara. Once all three had succeeded in growing their glass phials, Lily looked around the dungeon for the first time. It was quite large and bare with only a few shelves on the walls. There were 5 tables with four spaces around them. The Slytherin boy's and girl's were all on different tables and the Gryffindor boys were together but Holly was on the table near the door, on her own. Again, Lily felt a surge of pity for the girl and felt she had to do something about. She had resolved to tell Vicky her worries the next day and not to dwell on it to much before hand. She tore her eyes away from the girl in the corner when Professor Slughorn came round to check the potions and phials.

"Well done girls! I'm very pleased with your work today. Let see... Well, there are three of you and you've done two tasks so let's say 60 points to Gryffindor!" Slughorn said, evidently pleased.

"Thank you sir!" The girls gushed, overwhelmed. They smiled at each other and Lily knew that they were going to be best friends.


	5. The Worries Increase

That evening, Lily and her family and friends were sat around the fire in the common room, doing their first load of homework.

"I can't believe you got 60 points on your first day!" Chloe said to the three first years with utter bewilderment.

"It is Slughorn and there were three of them." James reminded his twin but, noticing the look he was getting from his older sister, kept quiet after that. For a while, there was no sound from that corner except for the crackling of fire, scratching of quills and, once, the smashing of an ink pot. As it got later, the common room slowly emptied and at 9 o'clock, the small group were the only people in the room.

"I'm going to bed." Lily said suddenly, rolling up her piece of parchment and stowing her quill and ink in her bag. She hugged her brothers and sisters and waited for her two room mates to collect their stuff. Then, the three girls walked through the door, up the spiral staircase and into the first year's dormitory. Lily looked, automatically at the bed in the corner. The curtains were drawn and there seemed to be no movement from within it, but Lily was sure Holly wasn't asleep.

Lily woke up with a start the next day. She got dressed as quietly as she could and tip toed out of the dormitory. She went down to what she thought was the empty common room. When she entered, however, Lily saw an outline of a person, highlighted by the dyeing flames from the fire, slumped in an armchair. Lily went over to the figure and noticed that it was Chloe, sleeping. She tapped her on the shoulder and Chloe woke up instantly.

"Oh, Lily! What are you doing up?" Chloe asked her sister.

"It's 6 o'clock, Chloe." Lily told her, looking concerned.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Chloe, can I ask you something?" Lily knew the time had come.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Well, do you know anything about the Piper family?" Lily blurted out.

"The Piper family? Well, dad works with that Piper guy, doesn't he? We had him and his wife round for dinner a few weeks ago, remember. Really nice people. Really lovely. Why?" Chloe asked.

"Well, there's this girl in my dormitory called Holly Piper and she seems so lonely. The complete opposite to what you said." Lily told her sister, confused at the difference.

"Really? What's the matter with her?"

"She's just really enclosed, you know?" Chloe nodded.

"There's not much you can do." Chloe told Lily, after a while.

"No, I suppose there isn't."

After another silence, Chloe suggested going down to breakfast so the two girls climbed out of the portrait hole and headed downstairs.

The Great Hall was a lot emptier than the morning before because it was so early. Chloe and Lily sat down at the deserted Gryffindor table and started piling the untouched food on to their plates. They sat in silence; wrapped up in their own thoughts. Lily was still thinking about the mysterious Holly and why she was so unlike her parents. The most logical reason was that she was nervous, but she would have asked for help, like Clara, wouldn't she? Lily couldn't figure it out. She felt a small pinch on her arm and was forced to stop thinking about Holly. She looked to her side and saw Vicky, staring at her.

"Lily, are you there?" She asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I was just thinking."

"Well, could you eat first, please?"

"Yeah, sure." Lily lifted her spoon to her mouth and swallowed her soggy cornflakes. She had just finished the bowl when all the owls came swooping down to their owners. Albus looked up at the ceiling, looking for the Potter family owl.

"You did write back to mum, didn't you, Vicky?" He asked his sister.

"Yes but I used Millie so there's no point looking for Loop." Vicky saw Albus's disappointed face and tried to think of something else to see. "I've told McGonagall to tell everyone that the Quidditch trials are going to be on Saturday. Are any of you going to try out?"

"I thought I would." James said quietly. Everyone stared at him.

"Well, Aunt Angelina gave me some lessons in the summer and said I could be a good beater." James finished, looking down at his empty plate.

"That would be real good. Good luck bro'." Vicky said her brother, enthusiastic. He smiled at her and then looked down at his watch. "Its a quarter to nine. I'd best be off, got divination first. Come on Chloe." And with that, the twins left the hall. Vicky turned to Lily.

"What have you got today?" She asked. Lily felt for her timetable in her robe pocket and extracted it. She unfolded it and looked down to Wednesday. "History of Magic, double Defence against the Dark Arts, Astronomy theory and I've got a flying lesson." Lily read out.

"A flying lesson, when?" Vicky asked.

"Last lesson."

"I've got a free period then, I could come and watch you!"

"Yeah, that would be great!" Lily lied and hugged her sister. The truth was she couldn't even get on a broom, never mind fly it. Vicky was going to see how rubbish she was and Lily didn't want that.

At 9 o'clock, the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years were sat down in the classroom. They were all staring at the front of the room, thinking something special would happen and, as if by magic, a ghost floated straight through the wall and sat down in the teachers' chair. He introduced himself as Professor Binns and started reading from a piece of parchment, in a dronening voice. Lily, Georgia and Clara but their heads onto the desk, in unison, and started taking notes, very slowly. Time seemed to be going at half the normal speed and half way through the lesson, Lily gave a loud yawn that grabbed the attention of everyone in the room. The only person who seemed vaguely interested was Holly. She had her head on her one of her hands, taking scribbled notes with the other, and was staring at the ghost teacher, as if reading his mind.

At the end of the lesson, everyone woke up from their daydreams to hear their homework task. To write a 15 inch essay on the Great War! Lily thought this would be pretty easy as both her mum and dad had nearly died in the war and her oldest sister had been born literally an hour before it had started. She had grown up listening to the story and Lily knew it off by heart.

When the bell went, everyone got there things together and rushed outside. As it was raining, people were keeping warm and dry in the Entrance Hall. The three friends squeezed through a small gap in the crowd and tried to find a space to stand. They were glad to get away to Defence against the Dark Arts and rushed off as soon as the bell rang.

Once they were all sat down, Professor Finnegan introduced himself and set everybody the task of writing down as many curses and spells as they could and sorting them out into good or bad columns. This was fun and very easy. Lily and Clara, who were working together, finished in record time.

"Well done, girls!" Professor Finnegan said, reading down the two columns. "Lily, I've been meaning to talk to you. Your mums told me to keep an eye on you and make sure your OK."

"Typical! I'm fine and I think I should write to mum tonight, put her mind at rest." Lily told the teacher.

"Yeah, well, keep out of trouble and you'll be fine."

"OK, thanks!" Lily said and Professor Finnegan walked away to check someone else's work.

"You know him?" Clara asked, shocked.

"Oh, yeah. He shared a dormitory with my dad when they were here. He's sort of a family friend." Lily told her friend.

"Cool. I bet he'll bump up your scores in test if you ask him." Clara said, jealously.

"No he wouldn't. Mums made sure of that. James actually tried that once and mum found out. She made sure he, or anyone else, wouldn't do it again." Lily told Clara, disappointed.

"Well, it's-" Clara was cut off by Professor Finnegan announcing the next task. It was to put the spells and curses into two different groups marked legal and illegal. This was a bit harder and took more time. By the end of the double lesson, everyone was tiered and hungry, and welcomed the large lunch that was waiting for them.

As the bell rang for last lesson, all of the first years lined up on the grass outside of the castle. Thankfully, it had stopped raining but the ground was still damp. Lily could see Vicky and Lauren, sitting on a bench, surrounded by books. When she saw Lily looking, Vicky waved and smiled. Lily returned with a small smile and half hearted wave, she was getting more nervous by the second. Madam Hooch came out of the oak doors carrying an armful of broomsticks.

"Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to your flying lesson. Can everybody grab a broomstick and put it on the ground." The teacher put the broomsticks on the ground and everyone rushed forwards to grab the best one. Once everyone had one, Madam Hooch told them to stand to the side of their broom, put their hand over it and say up. Suddenly, the air was full with commands. It took a while but, finally, everyone had managed to get their broomsticks off the ground. They mounted then, gripping tightly to the handle, and, with Madam Hooch's signal, kicked off from the ground. They were only a few feet off the ground but Holly slipped sideways and fell straight off. Everyone except her fellow Gryffindors laughed. Vicky and Lauren ran over to the group and sat Holly up.

"Are you all right?" Lauren asked as Vicky checked for any cuts. When Holly had nodded and Vicky had given her the all clear, Holly stood up and Madam Hooch collected the broomsticks up. Once she was out of ear shot, Tom from Ravencalw went up to Holly, "What are you actually doing here. It's obvious you can't do magic and you'll never belong here so do us a favour and just leave." He spat in her face and Holly ran inside, crying.

"That was horrible!" Lily cried, running after the girl in the distance. The crowd behind were stunned into silence.

Lily followed Holly into the girls' bathroom. There was only one locked cubicle and Lily could hear quiet sobs coming out of it. She knocked on the door.

"Holly, its Lily. Tom was bang out of order but you can't hide here all day."

"Go away!" A small, timid voice said. The sound of crying suddenly stopped.

"Will you talk to me?" Lily tried.

"No, just go away. No one wants to be friends with me. "

"I do."

"You don't know what I am. If you do, you wouldn't want me near you." Holly said.

" Why, what are you?"

"Go away!" Holly almost screamed through the cubicle walls. Lily realised she wasn't going to get anymore out of the girl so she left the bathroom. Once she was in the corridor, Lily leaned on the wall and thought. Why doesn't she want to be friends and what does she have to hide, she thought. She knew only one thing. Her worries about Holly Piper had just grown massively.


	6. It All Makes Sense

As Lily sat down, next to Chloe, for dinner, her thoughts were still on Holly, who hadn't come out of the girls' bathroom. Lily had to pull out of her thoughts, again, as Vicky sat down.

"What was that all about?" Vicky asked Lily, piling her plate with food.

"What?"

"Outside, with Holly Piper and that Ravenclaw?"

"Oh, nothing." Lily lied in a small voice.

"Holly Piper?" Chloe asked, putting her knife and fork down.

"Yeah, why?" Vicky asked, confused.

"Lily was asking about the Piper family, saying that Holly was a bit odd."

"Lily?" Vicky started but Lily stood up quickly and rushed out of the hall, leaving her two sisters speechless.

Lily ran through the castle; through people who had come down for a late dinner; through teachers and, once, through a ghost. She ran up stairs and down corridors until she got to the portrait of the Fat Lady, the guardian of the Gryffindor common room. Lily gasped the word 'party' and the portrait swung forward to admit her. As soon as she entered the common room she went straight up the spiral staircase and in to the 6th year dormitory. Vicky's room. She went over to her sisters' bed and dug through the trunk at the foot of it. Lily was looking for a specific thing, the Daily Prophet that had arrived yesterday morning. Finally, she found the newspaper at the bottom of the trunk and opened it to the middle page. There it was, the thing that she was looking for. Half of the page was taken up by a big picture of a smiling, happy family and right in the middle, waving to the camera, was a younger looking Holly Piper! Underneath the photo was a brief description of the family and underneath that was the story. Lily sat on her sister's bed and began to read...

Mr and Mrs Piper had worked at the Ministry of Magic and had had two daughters, Holly and Poppy. On the afternoon of the first of September, Holly's mum, dad and sister had been involved in a fatal car crash. Holly, however, had been perfectly safe as she had been on the Hogwarts Express at the time of the accident. After she had finished reading, Lily sat in silence, letting this new information sink in. That explains why she has been so distant and moody over the last few days, Lily thought, after the news had sunk in. She read over the bit at the end of the article and realised why Holly had taken deep offence at being called a Squib. Poppy had been a Squib! Suddenly, there was a sound from the common room, Lily jumped off the bed and went to investigate. When she got to the common room, Lily saw a small girl, wiping a tear-stained face, climbing through the portrait hole. Lily and Holly held each others gaze for a moment but as soon as Lily opened her mouth, the other girl ran across the room and into the first-year dormitory. Lily knew not to follow the girl but thought, this is going to be harder than I expected.


End file.
